The construction of a bridge can be a protracted undertaking when the support beams or steel girders of the bridge are to be erected on site. That is because in such instances the concrete webbing must be poured in place between the support beams or girders at an elevated height. In addition to being a dangerous undertaking, pouring concrete between the erected beams or girders requires that multiple customized forms, which usually take on the form of wooden boxes, be fashioned on top of the beams or girders for containing and supporting concrete after it is poured. Although forms are often constructed off site to save time and effort, they still must be assembled on site between the erected beams or girders and trimmed to their final dimensions. After the concrete is poured and the webbing has set, the forms must be removed leaving in place the concrete webbing supported by the beams.
The use of prefabricated concrete webbing and decking in the construction of bridges has been suggested as an alternative to using customized forms. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,537 to Slaw, Jr., a prefabricated, composite deck panel is disclosed having locking holes arranged throughout the panel and adapted to be fastened to corresponding locking loops that are welded to the top surface of a girder. During bridge construction, the deck panel is placed on top of a girder with the locking holes and corresponding locking loops aligned. A locking bar is subsequently inserted through each locking hole and corresponding locking loop to fix the panel and girders together. Other methods of constructing bridges using pre-cast or pre-fabricated webbing are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,128 to Kwon and U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,139 B2 to Bot.